--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:33:23 -0400 To: Philodox Clips List <clips@philodox.com> From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com> Subject: [Clips] Two Brevard County men accused of catering to criminals Reply-To: clips-chat@philodox.com Sender: clips-bounces@philodox.com <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-brevardmoney042707,0,4502786,print.story?coll=orl-home-headlines> Orlando Sentinel Two Brevard County men accused of catering to criminals moving money Jim Leusner Sentinel Staff Writer April 27, 2007, 4:14 PM EDT Two Brevard County men and two digital currency businesses they operated in Melbourne have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., accused of running an unregulated financial network which catered to criminals moving money. A four-count indictment handed up Tuesday and made public today charged E-Gold Ltd., Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. and owners Dr. Douglas L. Jackson, of Satellite Beach; Reid A. Jackson, of Melbourne; and Barry K. Downey, of Woodbine, Maryland. Each was charged with conspiring to lauder monetary instruments; conspriracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business; operating an unlicensed money transmitting business; and transmitting money without a license in Washington, D.C. The indictment was announced by Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and the Justice Department. Officials said the three will surrender in Washington at a later date. "Douglas Jackson and his associates operated a sophisticated and widespread international money remitting business, unsupervised and unregulated by any entity in the world, which allowed for anonymous transfers of value at a click of a mouse," Taylor said. "Not surprisingly, criminals of every stripe gravitated to E-Gold as a place to move their money with impunity. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants in this case knowingly allowed them to do so and profited from their crimes." A call to E-Gold and Gold & Silver Reserve offices was not immediately returned this afternoon. The probe was the result of a 2 1/2-year probe spearheaded by the U.S. Secret Service in Orlando, along with IRS, FBI and other state and local police agencies. Federal prosecutors also obtained a restraining order and seized millions of dollars in 58 accounts believed to be used in money laundering and the operating of unlicensed money transactions. The indictment charged that "EGold" digital currency functioned as an alternative payment system and was purportedly backed by stored physical gold. It charged that customers needed only to provide an e-mail address to open an account and that no other customer information was verified. The indictment accused some customers of using fictitious names such as "Mickey Mouse," "Donald Duck" and "No Name" and could conduct international transactions without any government regulation. Because of that, it became a "highly favored method of payment" by investment scammers, credit card and identity fraud thieves and sellers of Internet child pornography, authorities said. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' _______________________________________________ Clips mailing list Clips@philodox.com http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'